For The Man In All Of Us

Belly fat is ugly, annoying, and embarrassing. It’s supposed to be easy to lose, but it seldom feels that way. But one thing is for sure: the best way to combat belly fat is through your diet.

It’s not about eating less; it’s about shifting your focus to healthy foods that won’t cause belly fat. Here are 6 you can start with today.

Potassium-rich Foods

Adding potassium to your diet helps combat the bloat caused by a typical sodium-laden diet. Foods like bananas, potatoes (with the skin), spinach, and avocados are rich in potassium and can help eliminate the water retention and belly bloat caused by a salty diet. If you aren’t looking to get rid of belly fat but are instead looking to prevent it, potassium-rich foods can help keep belly fat at bay.

Lean Proteins

Proteins like fish, lean pork, skinless chicken breasts, and turkey cutlets are good choices if you want to prevent belly fat. They can help curb your appetite and are good for muscle building which can help burn more fat. You’ll want to consume about six ounces of lean protein every day to get the proper amount of protein in your diet.

Berries

Blueberries, strawberries, and raspberries contain plant chemicals called anthocyanins which put them on the short list of foods that won’t cause belly fat. These chemicals actually burn abdominal fat according to researchers at the University of Michigan. To beat belly bulge, consume about two cups of berries each day.

Oats

Research suggests consuming whole grains can increase weight loss. Oat groats, the basic form of oats, are gluten-free so they won’t cause belly bloat the way other carbohydrates do.

To add oat groats to your diet, soak them overnight and rinse them before blending. Combine them with water, a sugar substitute, and a little bit of cinnamon to make yourself a healthy bowl of oatmeal.

Green Vegetables

Fresh green vegetables are another food that won’t cause belly fat. They help you feel full for longer periods of time and also help burn more calories. Green vegetables contain fiber and are good for digestion as well.

To get a variety of green vegetables in your diet, experiment with foods other than just lettuce and spinach. For example, try arugula, cabbage, fennel, kale, broccoli rabe, and endive.

Beans

Beans have resistant starch in them. This is a belly fat fighter also found in bananas and corn. These starches don’t turn into sugar like pasta and rice do. Instead, they typically pass through your body undigested and act more like fiber.

Adding beans like chickpeas or kidney beans to your salads or meals can help fight off belly fat. Including a half-cup of beans in your daily diet should be enough to reap the benefits!

A Caution About “Natural Foods”

Lastly, we want to leave you with a word of caution. When you want to get rid of belly fat, you may be tempted to go for “natural foods”. After all, foods labeled as “all-natural” should be good for you, right? Not always.

Perhaps Chris Walker, author of the Salvation Diet, sums it up best….

“Most people think natural means healthy, but that’s not always the case. Take sugar for example. Many labels boast “contains real cane sugar!” and people think that means it’s good for you. But they don’t realize that our bodies aren’t designed to consume added sweeteners whether they’re natural or not! Corn and fruit are two more examples of foods that are found in nature but are bad if you eat too much (like almost all Americans do!).”

It can be difficult to make a girl see you as more than a friend, especially if you’ve known each other for many years. While your feelings may have moved from platonic to romantic recently (or you may have held a candle for her for many years) getting her to shift her emotional state to match yours can be a challenge.

Here are some of the potential issues that can stand in your way, and how you can overcome each of these to make her view you in a new light.

Stop Stifling Romance

How you behave with a female friend is different than how you act towards your dating partner. She may see you as just a friend because you aren’t keeping this distinction in mind.

How so?

You may be a little too silly, goofing around like you would with your guy buddies. This can make it extremely difficult for her to picture being with you romantically, as you just don’t appear to be a strong male figure in her mind. She needs to know that you have a serious side, which can begin to foster attraction from her side of the equation.

After all, most girls need to be able to picture you as being able to provide for a family in future years, and being a stable foundation which they can count on. If you’re always playing around and treating her as any other guy friend, then she won’t be able to see these qualities clearly. Ask Men recommends that you curb all the “guy talk” around her and begin treating her as you would any woman you’re interested in.

In the Girlfriend Activation System, this concept falls under the topic of “impression”. If she only wants to be friends, you’ve probably given her the wrong impression of you. The good news is, you can reset impression and the Girlfriend Activation System has an entire module dedicated to this process (Video 17: Resetting Impression).

“In this Girlfriend System video, Christian sets out the tried and tested techniques guys can use when they need to bust out of the friend-zone. Christian explains the steps you need to take to get a girl to come to the logical conclusion that she wants to be more than just friends, even if she’s already rejected you in the past.”

If you want to make a girl see you as more than a friend, resetting impression is one of the best things you can do.

Pull Back And Give Less

Psychology Today says you may be stuck in the dreaded friend zone because you’re meeting all of her needs without getting enough in return. In other words, you’re more invested in the relationship than she is because you’re willing to sacrifice your desire for a romantic relationship just to be close to her (even if it’s just as a friend).

You may provide her with everything that a boyfriend would, except physical intimacy, so she doesn’t feel the need to take things past the friend zone for this reason. After all, she is getting most of her needs met without any commitment or having to experience the fear or uncertainty that moving into romantic territory can bring. This may cause her to feel that she has nothing to gain by becoming your girlfriend and dating you.

The way to counter this problem is not by giving more, but by pulling back instead. Start spending less time with her, be less interested, and do less for her.

Why?

She probably takes all the benefits you provide for granted, and by removing some of these, she will start to realize how much she values having you in her life. You often don’t miss something until you no longer have it, and by withdrawing somewhat, you can give her the motivation to start meeting your needs in terms of having a romantic relationship.

If this period of pulling back doesn’t have any effect, this can be a clue that she will never be willing to enter into a dating relationship with you. While disappointing, it is valuable to learn this information as soon as you can to avoid wasting years pining after her to no avail.

Make Slow Adjustments

If you’ve had romantic feelings for a long time, you know what it feels like to desperately want her. Springing your feelings on her all at once can be a shock, especially if she has never considered you as a potential romantic partner.

One strategy to overcome this is to slowly begin sending her subtle hints and signals that you’re interested in being more than friends. As she slowly starts picking up on these signals, it will give her time to assess how she feels about you and whether she shares this attraction.

Just don’t wait too long to make your move, as eventually you’ll have to risk the friendship to determine if she’s willing to take things to the next level. Drop her subtle hints while also cutting back on the amount of time and attention that you give her. If you want to make a girl see you as more than a friend, this subtle “hot-cold” strategy gives you a two-pronged approach which may improve your odds of being successful.

Male pattern baldness (MPB), scientifically known as Androgenetic Alopecia, affects 70 percent of men before they reach age 70. MPB is associated with a genetic predisposition to dihydrotestosterone (DHT) sensitivity. DHT is a derivative of testosterone and in prone men, it destroys hair follicles along the mid-anterior scalp and temples.

Although there are thousands of cures for male pattern baldness marketed on the internet, most of these are ineffective. Science has shown little connection between nutrition and MPB although deficiency of protein, zinc, and biotin is thought to contribute to some extent. The most effective and medically supported cures include:

Medication

Medication is currently the best way to fight male pattern baldness. There are only two medications that are approved by the FDA for the treatment of MPB. Finasteride, marketed as Propecia, is an oral drug that acts by blocking the conversion of testosterone to DHT.

According to Men Fitness, Propecia causes some sexual side effects such as impotence and ejaculation problems. Yale.edu puts the percentage of affected users at just 2%. The American Hair Loss Association recommends Finasteride as the first medication to try for MPB. When taken daily, it reduces DHT by 60% and is effective in over 85% of men.

Note:For men who want to avoid the sexual side effects of Propecia, there is a new dietary protocol that acts like a “natural Finasteride” to block the conversion of testosterone into DHT. You can learn more about it at http://newspapercat.org.

The other FDA-approved drug is known as Minoxidil. This drug, sold as Rogaine, is applied topically and is believed to act by stimulating the follicles to produce hair. Both of these drugs are meant to be used indefinitely as discontinuation results in a reversal of the positive effects. Using both drugs together has been shown to increase efficiency.
Many natural and homemade medications purport to help with hair loss, but most have not been scrutinized closely enough by science to support these claims.

Hair Transplant

Hair transplantation has come a long way since it was first used in the 1950’s and 60’s. In the original method, hair was transplanted from the back and sides of the head to fill in bald spots. These hair “plugs” were made of multiple hair strands. However, this method left a corn-like appearance on the bald areas.

Today, Dr. George Cotsarelis, a Penn Medicine physician specializing in hair loss, tells Mensfitness.com, that surgeons use two methods: Follicular Unit transplantation (FUT) and follicular unit extraction (FUE). FUT harvests a strip of scalp from the back of the head which is then moved to bald areas in groups of three or four hairs. This method generally leaves a thin scar.

FUE involves moving individual follicles and is now the most preferred method. However, it is more challenging and expensive.

Proper Lifestyle Management

According to WebMD, many studies link MPB to smoking, so quitting could help alleviate baldness. Stress is also known to accelerate male pattern baldness according to MedicalDaily.com. However, it has to be intense long-term stress, such as the loss of a loved one, rather than short term daily stress like being late for work. Stress leads to increased production of DHT in men. Proper stress management is therefore an important tool in fighting male pattern baldness.

Disguise

Although not a “cure” in the strict sense of the word, some forms of disguise can help men who suffer from baldness feel comfortable with their hair loss. These include weaves, hairpieces, and changing hair styles. The US National Library of Medicine discourages the use of suturing hairpieces as these can lead to scars or infections of the scalp.

Possible Future Treatments

According to MedicalDaily.com, researchers are developing a revolutionary cure that ironically involves plucking hairs to stimulate new hair growth. Inducing trauma to heal trauma is one of the foundations of surgery, and it is the same principle on which this new treatment is based. The procedure, known as quorum sensing, has been shown to work in mice and may soon be a mainstream cure for MPB.

Another possible cure, as reported in the Telegraph, involves the use of stem cells to create dermal papillae cells that are vital to follicle formation. These are then transplanted back into human subjects. This may eventually be the best way to fight male pattern baldness, but for now the study is still in its infancy and could take decades to come to fruition.